CD: “Songs For The Broken” by Step Echo

Hailing from the Niagara region of Canada, Step Echo are on a mission to bring their particular brand of ferocious Canadian Rock to the masses. To this end they’ve released two full length albums, the latest of which is called “Song For The Broken”. You can’t really go wrong with some nice, heavy but still hook-laden Rock. Indeed it’s one of the most accessible, widely heard and popular genres in the Rock and Metal world. There’s a reason “radio Rock” doesn’t refer to sweeping, seven minute Prog odysseys after all. The flip side of this is that hooky hard Rock is not exactly an uncrowded genre and this can make it quite hard for a band plying this sound to stand out. So, can Step Echo jump the genre fence and mark themselves out from the crowd with “Songs For The Broken”?

They certainly give it a good shot, breaking out an arsenal of musical tricks that include fiendishly catchy guitar riffs, some slightly dodgy song titles and what appears to be a tribute to Public Enemy’s iconic track “Fight The Power”.

The title track is a particularly strong addition to the Canadian hard Rock cannon, which starts off with a raging battle cry of a scream and then explodes out into a fierce stomper of a song with one of those all-important fist-in-the-air choruses. There are plenty of excellent hard Rock tracks littered across the album, Step Echo have clearly been taking lessons from fellow Canadian Rockers such as Theory of A Deadman and 3 Doors Down, and it shows in their polished hard Rock meets post-Grunge sound.

However, the best and most memorable moments in “Songs For The Broken” come when they step away from the tried and tested “Radio Rock” template and do something a bit different. An example of this has to be “Rape My Heart”. It’s far and away the best track on the album, starting off with shades of Metallica’s “The Unforgiven”, before evolving into a wonderful song that occupies a kind of middle ground between arena ballad and traditional Rock banger. The titles a bit much to be honest, but it’s a really original song which practically simmers with feeling. The other album highlight has to be “Sexual Taboo”. At the other end of the emotional scale to “Rape My Heart” itís a fast, funky little number that makes a welcome change of pace from the seriousness of much of the album.

“Songs for the Broken” doesn’t quite set Step Echo up for world domination just yet, as it doesn’t quite accomplish that all important task of setting Step Echo apart from the hard Rock pack. It’s a good start though, and tracks such as “Rape My Heart” show the band certainly have the ability to go far. At the moment, they’re still very much another band in a crowded genre. But, if you want to listen to some of the good old fashioned hard Rock music that rolls up its sleeves; spits on its hand and goes to work, you can’t go wrong with “Songs For The Broken”.

Track Listing
Too Much
Bring
Songs for the Broken
Stay With Me
Rock Your Body
Sexual Taboo
Stumblin’
Sanity
Fight the Power
Not a World for the Living
Twisted Story
Rape My Heart
Dark Ride
Ugly
Video

Links
https://www.facebook.com/stepecho
http://www.stepecho.com/
https://twitter.com/stepechoband
http://www.youtube.com/user/StepEchoLive

Words By Elinor Day